gun control

John Russell Houser, the “drifter” who murdered two and wounded several more in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, was crazy as a loon. That isn’t unusual in such cases, but what is unusual is that Houser was involuntarily committed to a mental institution in 2008. That fact should have prevented him from buying the gun that he used to commit murder, but the federal government’s NICS system failed. The »

If you haven’t already seen it, this photo of the Marine facility in Chattanooga after it was shot up by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez tells you all you need to know about gun-free zones: Here in Minnesota, the legislature liberalized carry laws a decade or more ago. In response, most businesses–many in a fit of huffy self-righteousness–posted “guns prohibited” signs in accordance with the new law. Over the years those signs »

After Dylann Roof murdered nine pastors and churchgoers in the course of Bible study in Charleston, President Obama couldn’t wait to use the occasion for his narrow political purposes. “Let’s be clear,” he said with urgency in his voice. “At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence … doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. »

President Obama wasted no time before using the tragic massacre in Charleston, South Carolina to argue for gun control (or, more accurately, to sulk publicly about his failure to impose it). Obama stated: We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that once again innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. Now is »

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz carried out a horrifying mass murder of the passengers aboard Germanwings flight 9525. It has come to light that he was diagnosed with serious mental illness, but medical professionals were prevented by German law from communicating his condition to the airline, and Lubitz hid his psychological issues: Strict medical privacy laws mean the companies were oblivious to the potential dangers lurking in Lubitz’s mind as the first »

Over the years, we have been struck repeatedly by how often President Obama is wrong. Not how often we disagree with him, but how often he is just plain wrong, on matters of history, science and so on. Obama has a blithe willingness to assert false propositions of fact, apparently without fear of correction. I suppose that is because the Democratic press has little incentive to point out his errors. »

Thought experiment: Just imagine what the media and liberals would be saying if this idea came from a conservative or Republican (hat tip to Breitbart): Bloomberg Suggests Banning Young Minority Males from Gun Ownership Speaking to the Aspen Institute on February 6, Michael Bloomberg said cities should ban young minority males from owning guns, both as an effort to reduce crime and to keep those minority males “alive.” According to The »

At American Thinker, Ciaran Brady eloquently makes the case for an effective right of self-defense in Europe, and in particular in Great Britain: The threat of marauding gunmen in a city, so vividly illustrated at the offices of Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher supermarket, has been clearly apparent to western nations since the horrific Mumbai attacks in 2008. MI5 have confirmed that the Syrian arm of a resurgent al-Qaeda is »

From Atlanta, the inspiring story of a pizza delivery woman who defended herself against a would-be carjacker: While delivering a pizza, the employee — whose name has not been released — walked into what is now believed to be a setup for a carjacking and heist. When she arrived at the delivery address, a man approached her car and pulled a gun out. He forced her out of the car »

Following Amedy Coulibaly’s attack on a kosher grocery store in Paris in which he murdered four Jews, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director general of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe and the European Jewish Association, wrote to the interior ministries of all European countries, urging changes in gun laws that would make it easier for Europe’s Jews to arm themselves: Rabbi Menachem Margolin…writes: “We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed »

The constitutional right of self-defense is under constant attack. “Common sense” reforms that amount to relegating law-abiding citizens to revolvers are in the air, funded by powerful left-wingers. “Moms” are demanding action on gun laws–“#Not one more,” they say, apparently thinking that murder can be abolished by diktat. The hashtag makes it official. These “moms” marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, accompanied, needless to say, by guards with guns: For those »

Ms. Hillary was so impressive on Fox News yesterday — her ability to treat Greta Van Susteren as though she knew what she was talking about was a coup all by itself — that it was almost possible to forget momentarily why she is such an unacceptable political figure. I know our readers don’t need a reminder, but just before her appearance on FNC, she turned up before a town »

Every time someone is murdered with a firearm, it seems, the New York Times joins the liberal chorus in demanding that the law require more background checks. The current background check system is inadequate because 1) it has little relevance to criminals, who obtain their guns illegally anyway, and 2) the overwhelming majority of mentally unbalanced people aren’t on the list. You can say one thing for the current system, »

Predictably, Elliot Rodger’s California killing spree has led some to denounce the NRA and call for gun control: “Stop this madness!” says the father of one of the victims. Rodger killed three people with a knife and three more with handguns, but no one is calling for a ban on knives. (In the U.K., where private ownership of firearms is rare, most murders are committed with knives, and debates over »

New Jersey’s legislature has enacted a gun control measure that would ban the most common .22 rifles that have been in use for generations. The Truth About Guns, via InstaPundit, has the story: The gun ban that has gone to New Jersey Governor Christie for signature has been described as a “gun magazine restriction“, but it bans numerous common sport and hunting rifles. The ban has no exemption for rifles »

In 2012, a man named William Spengler set his upstate New York house on fire, and lay in wait for firemen to respond to the blaze. When they did, he shot four of them with a rifle, killing two. Now some of the firefighters, or their heirs, are suing Gander Mountain, one of the country’s largest outdoor retailers: The families of four New York state firefighters are suing St. Paul-based »

Whenever there is a school shooting, liberals try to capitalize by pushing for more gun control. But a recent story here in Minnesota reinforces a point that we have made before: would-be “shooters” are usually copycats who admire the fame that prior mass murderers have achieved. If we really want to cut down on school shootings, in particular, the most effective measure would be to prohibit news media from reporting »